The German proverb “what you shout into the forest comes back to you”, which means “what goes around, comes around”, does not just apply figuratively. The echo, a natural phenomenon with which we are all familiar, sounds completely different depending on the location and what reflects the sound. A steep crag will send back a whoop very differently to a wide valley or a mountain lake.
Sound specialists from Basel are in the process of creating an audio archive of echoes for Switzerland. Through Echotopos Schweiz, climbers, mountain guides, hikers, nature lovers and farmers and both children and adults alike can lend a voice to the “alpine sound region” and help to fill the archive.
The main element of the long-term project is an online echo archive. It is available to everyone online and as a smartphone app (iPhone and Android). You can log into the echo archive, record an echo location in Switzerland or search for ones that have already been recorded and listen to some of them in the audio archive.
The map of echo locations: www.echotopos.ch
Insight into the project: http://new-space-mountain.ch/projekte/echo-topos-schweiz
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